Portrait and biographical record of Christian County, Illinois : containing biographical sketches of prominent and   representative citizens, together with biographies of all the Governors of the state, and of the Presidents of the United States.  Chicago, Ill. : Lake City Pub. Co., 1893.  Transcribed and annotated by Judy Rosella Edwards, 2007.

PHINEAS LEECH DODGE, a grain dealer, and proprietor of the elevator in Rosamond, was born in the village of Glenn, Montgomery County, N. Y., June 10, 1843, and is the second in order of birth in a family of ten children, whose parents were Asa P. and Mary J. (Faulkner) Dodge. The paternal great-grandfather, Asa Dodge, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and died at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. The grandfather, Phineas Dodge, and the father of our subject were both born in Montgomery County, N. Y. The latter was a cooper by trade, and also followed the occupation of farming. He married Miss Faulkner, a native of Glenn, N. Y., and a daughter of Daniel Faulkner, who was born in Connecticut, and was of English lineage. The parents of our subject celebrated their marriage in their native county, and there began their domestic life, and in 1891 they celebrated, their golden wedding. The mother survived her husband a few months and died August 30, 1893. The father died May 14, 1893, at the age of seventy-four years. Of their seven sons and three daughters, six grew to manhood and womanhood, and are still living. Under the parental roof Phineas L. Dodge was reared to manhood, remaining at home until his removal to the West, in 1865. His education was acquired in the common schools, which he attended through the winter season, while in the summer months he worked on a farm. In the year above mentioned he became a resident of Hillsborough, Ill. [ed., Hillsboro, Ill.], and in that neighborhood worked by the month as a farm hand for a short time. On the 4th of June of the same year he came to Christian County, where he followed farm work until 1866, when he became clerk for the firm of Copeland & Bros., dealers in general merchandise, and grain buyers, with whom he remained about one year. He then became messenger for the American Express Company, running from St. Louis to Indianapolis, Ind., on what was then the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, but is now the Big Four. After nineteen months he returned to Rosamond, and began clerking for B. M. Schermerhorn, in which capacity he served for a year and a-half. In 1869 he became station agent at Rosamond, and for more than ten years served in that capacity, filling the position until December 16, 1880, when he became a dealer in hay, buying and shipping that commodity. He also added dealing in grain, and now uses four buildings in his business, two hay barns, a building for grain and the elevator. Mr. Dodge was married in 1869, to Marie A. Chase, who was born in Schuyler County, Ill., and is a daughter of William A. and Mary M. (Cook) Chase, the former a native of Massachusetts, and the latter of Baltimore, Md. Mrs. Dodge is the eldest of seven daughters. With her parents she came to Christian County in 1857. Her mother is still living with her children. Unto our subject and his wife have been born three daughters: Mary Agnes, who became the wife of H. W. Waddington, a farmer of Rosamond Township, February 24, 1892; Mabel Reed, who on the 6th of September, 1893, married A. B. Smith, and resides in Chicago; and Grace E., who is at home. In his political affiliations, Mr. Dodge is a Republican, and for six successive years served as Tax Collector. He is School Treasurer of the township, and has filled the position for twenty-one years, his faithfulness and fidelity insuring his continuance in office. He is a member and Treasurer of the First Congregational Church of Rosamond, and belongs to the Masonic lodge and to the Modern Woodmen of America. Besides his business, he owns a valuable farm of seventy-five acres, adjoining the corporate limits of Rosamond. He is a wide-awake and enterprising business man, and the community in which he lives recognizes in him a valued citizen.

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